Ronald V. Lucarelli holds a Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences (specializing in Infectious Diseases and Immunity). Dr. Lucarelli provides technological advice toward validity, infringement, and patentability analyses in the biotechnology area.

Prior to Joining MBHB, Dr. Lucarelli was a graduate research assistant at Temple University Lewis Katz School of Medicine. At Temple, Dr. Lucarelli had a wide array of research experiences, including studying inflammation pathways of colorectal cancer through the Cancer Biology and Molecular Genetics program and examining the mechanisms of pulmonary cell damage and repair pathways from irritants like smoking through Temple’s Lung Center. Ultimately, Ronald chose to join the Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Inflammation in the newly formed lab of Dr. Vincent Tam, where he studied the host response dynamics and resolution of post-influenza secondary bacterial infections, more commonly known as superinfections. Dr. Lucarelli’s dissertation examined how resolution of superinfection is obscured, involving research that crosses into many areas of life sciences, such as host-response immunology and inflammation, lipidomics, genetics, microbiology, and cell biology.

Lucarelli R, Gorrochotegui-Escalante N, Taddeo J, Buttaro B, Beld J, Tam V. Eicosanoid-Activated PPARα Inhibits NFκB-Dependent Bacterial Clearance During Post-Influenza Superinfection. Front Cell Infect Microbiol. 2022 Jul 4;12:881462. doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2022.881462. PMID: 35860381; PMCID: PMC9289478.

Tam VC, Suen R, Treuting PM, Armando A, Lucarelli R, Gorrochotegui-Escalante N, Diercks AH, Quehenberger O, Dennis EA, Aderem A, Gold ES. PPARα exacerbates necroptosis, leading to increased mortality in postinfluenza bacterial superinfection. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2020 Jul 7;117(27):15789-15798. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2006343117. Epub 2020 Jun 24. PMID: 32581129; PMCID: PMC7355019.